I blogged yesterday (here) about FINRA’s Board of Governors’ Decision finding that Schwab violated FINRA’s rules by inserting a class action waiver in the PDAA in its customer agreement.  A few additional aspects of the decision are worth mentioning. First, FINRA’s Enforcement Department appealed the lower hearing panel’s adverse ruling to FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council … Continue reading More on FINRA’s Ruling in the Schwab Class Action Waiver Case →

From Ethan Katsh (U Mass): The 2014 International Online Dispute Resolution Conference will be held in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, June 25-27, 2014.  ODR 2014 <http://www.odr2014.org>  will bring together the technology, law and dispute resolution communities, academic researchers, representatives of  financial institutions, ecommerce and social media companies, and social justice advocates using innovative technologies … Continue reading ODR Conference in June 2014 at Hastings/Stanford →

In a stunning but hoped-for result (based on am amicus brief I co-authored in the case), FINRA’s Board of Governors reversed a disciplinary hearing panel decision in the FINRA v Schwab enforcement action. (See some of my previous blog posts on the subject, here, here and here.) That hearing panel had held, among other things, that Schwab’s class action … Continue reading FINRA Reverses Hearing Panel in Schwab Enforcement Case: Class Action Waiver Violates FINRA Rules →

Last week, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided two issues important in the field of securities arbitration — one of which I believe flatly ignores the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by Dodd-Frank. The case, Goldman, Sachs & Co. v. City of Reno, __ F.3d __, 2014 WL 1272784 (9th … Continue reading Ninth Circuit, FINRA Arbitration and Exchange Act Commands →

Congratulations to students Alden Anderson and Chelsea Hesla from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, who won the 2014 American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution Representation in Mediation Competition.  The National Finals took place this past week at the Section’s Annual Conference in Miami. As the ABA reported, over 100 … Continue reading Arizona State Law Wins ABA Representation in Mediation Competition →

Profs. Doug Frenkel’s (UPenn) and Jim Stark’s (UConn) recent article Changing Minds: The Work of Mediators and Empirical Studies of Persuasion, 28 Ohio State J. Dispute Resol. 263-352 (2013), has been selected as the outstanding scholarly article of 2013 by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR).  CPR, an organization of executives and counsel from the … Continue reading Profs. Frenkel and Stark Win CPR Outstanding Scholarly Article Award →

I have a Dropbox account and use it to store a lot of my cloud-based documents. Dropbox emailed its users late last week, announcing changes to its Terms of Service, including the addition of an arbitration clause.  Notably, the clause included submission of disputes to the AAA for arbitration, a right to opt out within 30 … Continue reading Dropbox adds Arbitration Clause to its Terms of Service →

As others are reflecting on notable events in the past year, I think about the American Arbitration Association’s 2013 revisions to its arbitration rules, and what those revisions mean to arbitration. First, effective October 1, the AAA’s revised Commercial Arbitration Rules make several important changes to the arbitration process.  All of the changes are summarized … Continue reading Notable AAA Arbitration Rule Revisions in 2013 →

Congratulations to Friend of Indisputably Prof. Hiro Aragaki (Loyola Law) on winning one of only two Honorable Mentions in the 2014 AALS Annual Scholarly Paper Competition for junior faculty for his paper “Contract” or “Procedure”? Reinterpreting the Federal Arbitration Act.  He presented a draft of the paper to the recent ADR Works-in-Progress Conference, and his presentation … Continue reading Congratulations to FOI Hiro Aragaki →

Now that I have had a day to catch my breath, I can share a few reflections about the wonderful ADR Works-in-Progress Conference that Cardozo Law School hosted this past Thursday evening through Saturday morning.  Prof. Lela Love, Director of Cardozo’s Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution, assisted by student editors of Cardozo’s Journal of Conflict … Continue reading Report from Cardozo’s Wonderful ADR Works-in-Progress Conference →